Ammonia Removal at Ice Arena Is Complete

March 20, 2014

The City would like to update the community about the status of the implementation of the Culver Ice Arena's Facility Closure Plan.

The Culver City Fire Department, which is monitoring the decommissioning process, witnessed the safe removal of all the anhydrous ammonia from the Culver Ice Arena refrigeration system. The ammonia was removed from the property by Hill Brothers Chemical.

Work continues at the site as contractors remove the brine solution from the pipes under the ice. Brine, a salt solution made from calcium chloride in water, is run through pipes under the ice to cause the surface on top to freeze.

The brine solution is being pumped into onsite storage tanks for proper disposal. Technicians have taken test samples of both the brine solution and the ice to a lab to determine the quality of water being removed from the ice rink.

Over the next few days the lab results will be returned, and the team will be able to determine whether to discharge the water into the City's sewer system or off-site, at a facility designed to treat the effluent.

Currently, the water from the melting ice is being stored in containers at the property. Subsequent tasks will include the testing of the soil beneath the ice for

contaminants, analysis of the depth of the permafrost, and performing additional remediation WORK.